Modern Britain

Gallery: Churches of Central London

by Peter Kessler, 8 November 2009

St Augustine Watling Street lies to the
immediate east of St Paul's, the only church to survive in the
cathedral's shadow. The first record of its existence dates to 1148,
but this building, probably a Norman construction, was destroyed by
the Great Fire of 1666, a common feature of the history of a great
many churches in the City of London. In the 1680s the current
version was erected, with the tower following in the 1690s, probably
to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor.

The altar piece in the new church building came
with Corinthian columns and the pulpit was of carved oak. The tower
was heavily updated in 1830, while the pulpit was modernised in
1878. The church was completely destroyed by enemy bombing in 1941.
St Paul's Cathedral Choir School was built on the ruins, being
completed in 1967, while the tower was reconstructed in its original
Baroque style and attached to the modernist block behind it.

St Faith under St Paul's also
sat in the shadow of St Paul's, now approximately on the corner of
Cheapside and New Change. The entire church was removed in 1255 to
allow for Old St Paul's to be expanded to the east. From then until
Edward VI's reign (1547-1553) parishioners worshipped at the end of
the west crypt under St Paulís Quire. Then they transferred to the
Jesus Chapel, masked by a screen. After the Great Fire, they joined
St Augustine Watling Street.

St Michael-le-Querne was situated
alongside St Faith's on Cheapside. The dedication, 'le-Querne',
derives from an eleventh century reference to it being near a place
'where corn is sold', which would have been on Cheapside itself
('cheap' was the Saxon word for market). It was rebuilt in 1430 and
in 1617 refurbished to make it more pleasing to the eye. Destroyed
in the Great Fire, the church was one of the relatively small number
never rebuilt.

Christchurch Greyfriars is on Newgate
Street. It was built between 1306 and 1327 in the Gothic style at
the eastern end of the grounds of the monastery of the Grey Friars
or Franciscan monks, which explains its name. It was also known as
Christ Church Newgate, as that entrance into the medieval city lay
alongside the monastery. Christ's Hospital replaced the monastery
after the Dissolution in 1538 and the church was gifted to the city,
which abused and defaced the building.

The Great Fire destroyed the original church, but
it was included in the list of those to be replaced, and the design
was handled by Christopher Wren. Originally one of the largest
churches in the country, the replacement ended up smaller, although
part of the old foundations were re-used. This church was destroyed
by enemy bombing in the Second World War and not rebuilt. The ruins
were preserved and the nave is now a public garden laid out in the
church's floor plan.

St Nicholas Shambles was on
Edward Street, close by Christchurch Greyfriars. It was a medieval
church which was first referred to as St Nicholas de Westrnacekaria.
In 1253, Walter de Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester, granted
indulgences its parishioners, but during the Dissolution in 1538 the
church was demolished and the parish united with St
Sepulchre-without-Newgate. In 1975 the site was excavated, with a
large number of important finds being made.

St Audoen within Newgate is hard to locate
precisely, but it was on a corner opposite Grey Friars Monastery at
the top of Warwick Lane, as shown here looking south-east towards
St Paul's (with the site of Grey Friars behind the camera). Another
of London's medieval churches, it was first mentioned as 'Parochia
sancti Audoeni'. It was demolished during the Dissolution and the
parish united with those of St Nicholas Shambles and St
Sepulchre-without-Newgate.

Greyfriars Monastery lay opposite St
Audoen's and had Christchurch Greyfriars in its grounds. Nine
Franciscans landed at Dover in 1224 and were gifted some land and
houses close to Newgate in 1225, bordering on a lane so filthy from
the blood of slaughtered animals that it was called Stinking Lane.
Part of this was absorbed into the grounds as the monastery quickly
expanded, making it extremely rich and powerful, until the
Dissolution of 1538 saw it closed down.

Christ's Hospital was created in Greyfriars in 1552
by Edward VI, although the site had been used by the City for the
relief of the poor and destitute since 1538. The king, the bishop of
London, and the Lord Mayor created three Royal Hospitals, and this
was the one dedicated to the education of poor children. By the
1560s it was sending pupils to Oxford and Cambridge. A new site was
proposed in 1877, and the school at Newgate was finally closed in
1902.